The Funeral of Seattle's Surgeon General
Thousands of Seattle citizens and military units turned out to mourn Dr. E. L. Smith, whose burial was marked by an elaborate procession and a final salute.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The mortal remains of Dr. E. L. Smith were laid to rest by his brethren of the medical profession, the National Guard, and the societies to which he belonged yesterday afternoon. Thousands of his former patients and friends went to the Armory to look their last on his familiar features. Private services were held at Bonney & Stewart's chapel, followed by a military procession down Third Street. Five Seattle and Tacoma companies of the First Regiment, headed by the regimental band, acted as escort. The procession marched to Lake View Cemetery, where the final salute from the rifles rang out over the heights as the bank of flowers covering the body was lowered into the earth.
“As the line began to move the bell at the fire department headquarters tolled fifty-three times, numbering the years of the doctor's life.”
Public figures in 1893 were often mourned with elaborate civic displays that knit the community together. Today, while we still honor leaders, our urban scale and secularization have transformed the scale and style of such mass civic mourning.
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